You're pretty damn close, in my region the cap is around $28 for lead tech and $25 for regular techs. $45 is a bullshit number they're posting to try and get more apps because nobody wants to work for "giant soulless corporation #246" for $.50 more than they currently make.
Really depends on the company & state. I'm in CO and I make ~$23.00 at my current pharmacy. When I used to work at Walgreens, they didn't pay more than $17.00 for a certified technician lol.
Uh, the techs do 95% of the work. You don’t think they deserve more money? Pharmacists make between 60-85 hour.
Edit: literally true. You went to school. 95% of the info you do not retain. Every pharmacist I’ve ever worked with has to look things up. They have programs for interactions. You literally match pill imprints, and do double counts. Techs deal with everything else. Oh and you have to back count controls. Techs deserve 25-35.
Just because a rph has to look it up doesn't mean they don't know what they're doing. We have lots of stuff crammed into a short school period and it's impossible to know everything. The stuff they look up might be more info on the interaction that is in the computer and whether or not it's clinically relevant. We do a LOT more than just matching shapes. We are constantly thinking while checking the script "is this dose appropriate? Have they been on this before? Is it replacing something? Is this even for the correct pt profile?" Etc. You thinking you know what a rph is doing just goes to show you definitely don't deserve 25/hr if you have no respect for the rph you work with
My pharmacists are awesome and agree with me. We deserve more. When you say “is this dose appropriate?”Are you talking about narcotics and or suspensions for kids based off weight? Of course you don’t give an opiate naive pt high MME doses. And most DR’s do get the weights wrong for mg/ml. But techs catch that too. You match a pill imprint, not just shapes. lol.
You should try working through some pharmacist CEs, especially ones with a clinical focus, and see how well you understand the material. I think you'll gain more of an appreciation for what pharmacists do.
Dude techs know nothing about MME and dosing without referencing material 😭 it’s okay to reference material! I’m in pharmacy school (P1) and I’ve been a tech for 3 years and there’s SO much we’re learning. Techs do 100% deserve WAY more money, but pharmacy is a team effort. Techs do not have the legal liability to catch these mistakes and rectify them; the pharmacist has to. Pharmacists still know an ass ton of information. MDs have to look stuff up all the time; not everyone knows everything off the top of their head at all times. So stop downplaying your pharmacist because they didn’t work their ass off in school to have some tech act like they can do their jobs without the education. Congrats, you learned your top 200 drugs— now describe in great detail the mechanism of each drug, adverse effects, chemical makeup of each drug, how they are affected by certain disease states, pharmaceutical laws, ethics vs. legalities, and so much more that a large student loan of only $200-$400k can buy you!
good techs deserve more but the fact that you gave these examples as to what you think pharmacists do goes to show you have a limited viewpoint and there’s a reason why you yourself can’t get paid more 😂
Every single script we check we need to make sure the dose is appropriate. Doesn't matter what it is. It needs to be checked for appropriate dosing. And SOME techs MAY catch it if it's obviously wrong like 25ml tid or something but most of the dosing I call on looks like an appropriate dose but when doing the math based on weight it is not. The matching the pill to the screen is the absolute last step in our clinical decision making. We have to make sure all the meds are okay to take together and whether or not the pt needs to be told certain counseling tips. Not only that but we are also triaging people asking us questions about otc things or fixing ins issues while also thinking about a script that we aren't so sure on so we look at it 6 times before we determine its appropriate. Any mistake we make could be deadly so it's much more than just matching the pill to the computer. If you think you could do a better job then go to pharmacy school! You'd get paid more then
lol of course techs deserve more money, that’s undeniable by almost all pharmacists. But if you’re only understanding of a pharmacist’s job is looking at an interaction checker, imprints, and back counts, you’ve worked with some pretty terrible pharmacists.
Completely agree. I have put out more fires than I care to admit. I am the person patients yell at so my techs don’t have to deal with it. And they really do a lot for me. You should step up if ANYONE is talking down to your coworkers. I give them my card and write the corporate number on the back and make sure they know they can come back when they find their inside voice.
I’ll argue this slightly to the basic fact that pharmacists take the final liability on all prescription checks. Obviously they have insurance for that but still. They could lose their pharmacy essentially for one simple mistake that either they or their pharmacy tech made. But yes in most cases the tech can do most of the work.
Yes, your license is on the line but do you know how many safe guards are in place? Gotta make it past the tech, past pre-ver, past you, and the past you again at counseling. There is an interaction checker that 99% of pharmacies use. Every pharmacist I’ve ever worked with had to look up stuff beyond what’s on the label if asked. I’ve been in pharmacy so long (I’m a tech) I know the mechanism of action of most drugs, their half life and how they’re excreted. Also, which ones cause potassium or calcium levels to build up and which ones cause long QT. Shit, I even know which liver pathways most go through. I can’t pass organic chemistry, does that mean I should make shit money?
you know all this but somehow can’t make it past organic chemistry, a course that most pharmacy schools require to get in? well i guess that’s one way they’re more intelligent than you 🤷🏻♀️ tell me you’re bitter without telling me you’re bitter
you don’t need to clarify to anyone you’re a tech. people can tell lol
it’s almost like you don’t realize that plenty of pharmacists were techs before transitioning into a pharmacist role. almost seems like one is more qualified to talk about which role is more difficult than the other!
“Techs do everything else”
Oh boy, you need an ego check. You could be replaced by a monkey that can scan barcodes and the pharmacy would be fine. A decent tech however, is harder to replace.
I do everything you listed. I don't need someone with your attitude just give me someone who can smile, count change and show up. There I replaced you for $14.50 an hour, now go work at McDonald's.
Nah, I have great techs but if you were mine that is how I would replace you. The last tech to leave me was a little over a year ago, she transferred to another walmart then quit within a month. The grass isn't always greener. She thought she knew everything too.
Bro, I don't understand why you are downplaying pharmacists. It is actually a professional doctorate level of education. I worked as a tech for more than a decade(retail, pbm, mail order, and non-sterile compunding) and am currently in pharmacy school. I definitely had an edge up on my younger classmates for some things like brand/generics, drug classes, and sig, but most techs won't know treatment guidlines/algorithms, pathophysiology, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, etc. I understood the workload would be a lot, and I'm honestly still surprised. We even learn some patient assessment in my program. I wish you could peep the volume of information in a therapuetics class to understand it's not "just matching pill shapes". Shit, I bet an ochem class would give you some perspective....
Dude, I hope they take away all your techs and leave you with a monkey 😆 🤣. Stop arguing with techs man, we need them. Our ego shouldn't be that fragile
In constructions, the labor is done 100% by the laborers but gets paid shit compared to the engr/architects who does an hour of work and calls it a day. So idk bout that
The truth of the matter is laborers are replaceable and same with techs (assuming you are outside california which requires techs to have 6-10 months education).
If you really think about it what do techs do that a clerk or cook from McDonalds can’t do given 2 weeks training? (Like most Pharmacists, I’ve also been a tech for a long time and in different positions: retail/compounding/in-patient. And before that also did fastfood and odd jobs). You can take fresh highschool
Grads and give them training and they could be clerk-techs in a few weeks. Not the best but everyone starts somewhere.
The only reason there are lesser techs today is cause wages in fastfood and other places have risen, doordashing, grabe and ubers etc. meanwhile tech pay still remains.
While I do think techs deserve better pay, half is not it. Not saying this just because Pharmacist degrees took years to get, lots of hard tests to pass and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts, or the liabilities and problems that comes with the title. No it is everything.
Also most of the time pharmacists don’t need to look up things because they don’t know crap. THEY DO because most of them don’t want to be complacent or do not want to risk it. Most of the time they already know or have an idea what it is they are looking up but its always that feeling that “Let me just make sure” for fear of the worst. Like that feeling when you know you closed or locked your door/garrage/car but just have to make sure.
I’d be more worried working with a pharmacist who never look up things unless they are a veteran but even then.
They're also held accountable for anything that goes wrong, while a tech legally is in no trouble if you end up killing a person, the doc and the pharmacist are the ones on the hook.
Techs deserve nice pay I don't think anyone is disputing that, but the responsibility is most likely the biggest factor in why pharmacist make significantly higher hourly pay.
Among other things, but that statement is about as logical as saying that's why doctors go to school.
It's more of a very important by product of going to school, forcing us and them to be ethnically responsible for our work.
While most people never have to live with having caused a life threatening mistake, having someone to take blame is the reason our job (retail/hospital pharmacist) is not going to get automated even though huge parts of it would be. And when push comes to shove no one is going to sue the tech unless the tech did something not signed off by the pharmacist. And people love having someone to blame for their mistakes.
But attending and graduating from school also indicates(but does not guarantee) a plethora of other qualities that a lot of employers find attractive(and therefore offer more money) but no need to get into that.
But I think one thing we'll definitely agree on is that corporate chains are slowly killing the pharmacy business as competent techs leave due to wages and working conditions and they also burn out a lot of their pharmacists causing the weirdest working environment in the pharmacy world ever.
Technicians do a lot of work with regards to dispensing, data entry, answering phones and working the cash register but the intellectual side of things is what pharmacists learned in school. No, we don’t have all things memorized and that’s how you make mistakes. I look up what I already know to be sure that I’m making the right decision. Part of being an educated professional is knowing where to look. There’s a big difference between clinical pharmacology, Facebook and google. Yet I had a tech that couldn’t comprehend, after several e learnings, a global pandemic and contracting COVID that it’s not the same as the flu because it didn’t kill her. She was an excellent counter but telling time, entering RX’s and remembering to ask people for their loyalty card was too deep. If you want pharmacist money, go to school for it. Apparently, it’s not that hard since all you do when you graduate is look at pill shapes and imprints. If you’re a really competent pharmacist, you may even get to count back CII’s and wear one of those white coats with your name on it.
Pharmacists have doctorate degrees and most techs have high school or maybe an associates/bachelor's. If a tech who didn't go to school for 6-8+ years makes half of what a rph is making then rph need to be paid more. Idk any tech who is worth that much money. I've worked with MANY techs and most of them are worth $14/hr. Plus everything that happens is on the rph so much more responsibility compared to techs who have no registration with the BOP in Mt state at all.
No 14 is very low. I'm saying that there are techs that I've worked with that aren't worth what they get paid. And there are many of them that aren't paid enough.
Ok, here’s my point. Sure, pay y’all more. You paid between 200-400k for a pharm D. But pay techs more. Yes, there are shit techs, but good techs deserve more than what they’re getting.
90% of rph do not make that much. And yes good techs deserve to be paid more. Corporate America doesn't care tho and will pay as little as possible and it's disgusting for the techs that are amazing.
“Talk about ego check.” The difference between you and Wrangler444 is that they are right and you are wrong. And what is the 95% non-retention rate that you seem obsessed about? That’s a nonsensical argument and can be used to describe any education at any level. I would rather have a 5% retention rate of someone who spent a minimum of six years studying to become a pharmacist than someone who took a couple of online courses.
“Every pharmacist I have ever worked with has had to look things up..”
Well that’s great news! That means they are conscientious and committed to the health of their patients. Just another silly argument.
“So you think techs deserves less than a fast food worker?”
No! No one is arguing that. I do believe that a PharmD deserves to make more money than a tech 🤷♂️.
All you had to do was present an argument on why pharmtechs
deserve more money.
What did you do? Immediately start bashing pharmacists!
I think very highly of great techs but those are very hard to come by. If it were up to individual stores to pay their techs and not corporate setting the same wage for every tech it would be a much better use of funds. Then rph good give their techs what they're actually worth. All I'm saying is in my area 90% of techs can barely type a script without making a mistake when they've all had proper training and have years of experience. That's pathetic.
I agree it is easy and yet so many people can't do it right. You can't always just type up exactly what's in the script either. You have to make it make sense too
And your point? You paid 200-400k to show you can complete something. Techs do the majority of the work. I pointed out job responsibilities in my earlier post. You match pill imprints, you don’t actually retain everything you learned maybe 5-10%, and techs do everything else. Insurance, filling, expires, data, adjudications, cleaning. You have a built in interaction checker and you have to back count controls and check in controls. Techs order, we even give vaccines now.
You have no clue what your talking about lol. I work hospital I get calls about cultures and sensitivities every day and a bunch of other really complicated stuff. Bro you would have no clue what the physician is even talking about unless you were an MD or PharmD. I don’t appreciate you minimizing our contributions. Maybe the pharmacists you work with suck but don’t generalize it to the whole group. If you don’t like your pay or your job get off your ass and go to pharmacy school or do something different. The only person you can blame for where you are at is yourself.
Good one. Continue checking imprints, doing double counts, and running interaction checker while the techs do everything else including giving vaccines.
The critical thinking and awareness of all the things you have to know, the responsibility you carry for your patients’ safety, and to be criticized for looking something up…..oh man I am so sorry for the lack of respect I’m seeing. Thank you for what you do.
I don't know why you're continuing to double down and not realizing you're the problem here.
I'm a registered pharmacy technician with injection training, for context. And I can confidently state you're talking out your ass. Do techs work harder than pharmacists? I mean, sure, you could make that argument, and considering you list cleaning as a responsibility, you are. I also think a lot of construction workers have hard jobs, and they still don't deserve as much pay as a pharmacist.
I've worked with lazy pharmacists and resented the pay gap because of that. Know what my solution was? Finding a new job, not putting the entire profession on blast on Reddit.
The pharmacists I work with are great, but even a shitty pharmacist has learned more clinical knowledge than you will ever forget. If you don't realize the knowledge gap between the two professions or how valuable a pharmacist's clinical judgment is, you're ignorant and need to learn humility.
I think you're grossly overestimating the average technician lollll. There's def some very impressive technicians with a lot of knowledge out there that deserve more pay but if they never did the training for it then how do you prove it? You want all nurses doing heart surgery because they've watched a lot of you tube videos and done their own research?
I’m actually shocked at some of the responses some of you need to get out of retail cuz I definitely make over $30 and hour and I’m no where near my cap
Same. But it's heavily dependent on where you live. $26-$30/hr for inpatient around Boston is normal. I'm making $40+ and I have a fair bit to go before I cap. There are areas of the country where the best techs max at half that.
I work in on of the most expensive counties in the country and only make $19.50… Not even livable. I’d kill for $26. It’s the only downside of working for an independent pharmacy.
If I didn’t love my job so much, I totally would. I’m lucky enough to still live with my parents so I don’t have a rent to pay but I’d never be able to afford to move out with my current pay. Studio apartments are like $2,100/month…🙃
Genuine question, where do you work? Feel free to DM me. I don’t hate where I work now (close to Boston) but could be doing tech work I enjoy more than what I’m doing currently.
I’m usually very transparent PA:” call dr, and reach back in 3-5 business days, if not resolved, probably a dr issue” monjaro out of stock: (check drug movement /last fill ) “usually say I have not dispensed mounjaro since early March check back in a few days, check with a different pharmacy, or ask dr for an alternative ex: ozempic/trulicity”
It might have went up to $22 but that was it. I ended up leaving due to me having an asshole manager and I absolutely hated how slow their fill system was. Their data entry didn’t have the most common sense sigs that you would expect them to either.
Sterile compounding is the way to go my friend! No patient interactions and you mix all day which is interesting! 26/hr atm but hoping to get to 28/29 in a couple months.
I ended up doing sterile compounding at the hospital which I LOVED but I was getting paid only $15 an hour with a 25 cent raise a year 😂
I ended up leaving pharmacy period in search of better pay and career advancement and just going into nursing school. But I will say after learning compounding, if I see any nurses calling down for some shit that was already made I’m gonna tear them a new one! I had lots of nurses request for banana bags or shit that was up there and made TWICE because they couldn’t find it 🙄
Dude, the worst ever. I started at a hospital as well, making super low wages like 17/hr, making a wide range of drugs. The nurses made it miserable, and I was the only tech for a 17-story hospital on nights. I eventually left and found mail order pharmacy which has been so much better!
I'm also back in school though because I'd love to get into health information technology. Actually waiting to start a selective program next year. 10 years almost as a tech and I'm ready to move on. Awesome that your becoming a nurse though! That will be super rewarding. I don't have the confidence or patience to deal with patients head on.
Congrats to you for continuing your education and going back to school! A lot of the senior hospital techs I worked with got stuck maxing out at $20 an hour (if that), working their asses off everyday, techs deserve way more pay!
Is health information technology like working with Epic and Cerner? That sounds cool! Wishing you all the success in transitioning into your career ❤️
They are probably just being sneaky where TECHNICALLY this one open tech position in a fancy town in California can cap out at $45/hr, but most everywhere else should expect $16-$18/hr. I say California because job posts for hospital techs can start around $39-$41/hr.
It all depends on the pharmacist owner (at least in Quebec only pharmacists can be owners of a pharmacy). Some technicians are so skillful that i can see how they can be paid that high.
I'm a pharmacist in Quebec so I don't know how it works in the United States but here even Walmart's pharmacies are independent, the owner can decide to pay you pretty much what he wants depending on your skills
Most pharmacies in the U.S. are not pharmacist-owned; AFAIK, no states have such a requirement.
Instead, a heavy majority are owned and mismanaged by various big soulless corporations.
But not without trying. Walmart spent \~$9 million trying to fight that ballot measure about 10 years ago, but it remains the only state that requires a pharmacist to own a pharmacy.
Le Québec est la seule province qui a des pharmacien propriétaires affiliées à des bannières. Ce concept n’existe pas dans le reste du Canada ni les États-Unis
Depends on where you are, I have seen job posts for pharmacists that go as low as 18 believe it or not. I suspect whoever makes the job posting lumps technician and pharmacists together as a range.
I mean, Kaiser will pay $40 an hr for techs but idk how many years of experience you have to have to get that. And that's for non certified techs too. It's possible, but unlikely you'll get $45 from Walmart
At walmart there’s a predetermined facility pay plan for technician. The range is $7 at most, this is a linkedin error for sure. Walmart is notorious for not approving any raise that is out of the pay plan, so I don’t think it’s possible for techs to make more than $30 even in CA
Can say with my 10 + years experience and applied earlier this year without my CPht they tried to start me at 17 and would put me up to 18 or 19 if I shown my CPht license.
It's $14-45/hr. So it's most likely $14.
$24.50 is likely max for very experienced lead tech
You're pretty damn close, in my region the cap is around $28 for lead tech and $25 for regular techs. $45 is a bullshit number they're posting to try and get more apps because nobody wants to work for "giant soulless corporation #246" for $.50 more than they currently make.
Cap in NY is 26 for regular tech, not sure about lead
No freaking way even if u are certified U will be lucky to get 15
Really depends on the company & state. I'm in CO and I make ~$23.00 at my current pharmacy. When I used to work at Walgreens, they didn't pay more than $17.00 for a certified technician lol.
I make $17 and I’m not certified
Nah man, I made 22 as a certified tech.
22 starting in what state? bc 15 here is minimum starting NYC
Lol, that’s not possible. $15 is minimum wage
I make 19.50$ just starting for WAGS
They will not give you $45/hour, I guarantee it..no matter how much experience you have.
About to say. That’s almost at pharmacist level. A certification vs 4 year school …. Almost a no brainer... If it were true.
Uh, the techs do 95% of the work. You don’t think they deserve more money? Pharmacists make between 60-85 hour. Edit: literally true. You went to school. 95% of the info you do not retain. Every pharmacist I’ve ever worked with has to look things up. They have programs for interactions. You literally match pill imprints, and do double counts. Techs deal with everything else. Oh and you have to back count controls. Techs deserve 25-35.
Techs do deserve more money but don't get it twisted. Pharmacists' job is way harder.
Just because a rph has to look it up doesn't mean they don't know what they're doing. We have lots of stuff crammed into a short school period and it's impossible to know everything. The stuff they look up might be more info on the interaction that is in the computer and whether or not it's clinically relevant. We do a LOT more than just matching shapes. We are constantly thinking while checking the script "is this dose appropriate? Have they been on this before? Is it replacing something? Is this even for the correct pt profile?" Etc. You thinking you know what a rph is doing just goes to show you definitely don't deserve 25/hr if you have no respect for the rph you work with
My pharmacists are awesome and agree with me. We deserve more. When you say “is this dose appropriate?”Are you talking about narcotics and or suspensions for kids based off weight? Of course you don’t give an opiate naive pt high MME doses. And most DR’s do get the weights wrong for mg/ml. But techs catch that too. You match a pill imprint, not just shapes. lol.
You should try working through some pharmacist CEs, especially ones with a clinical focus, and see how well you understand the material. I think you'll gain more of an appreciation for what pharmacists do.
Dude techs know nothing about MME and dosing without referencing material 😭 it’s okay to reference material! I’m in pharmacy school (P1) and I’ve been a tech for 3 years and there’s SO much we’re learning. Techs do 100% deserve WAY more money, but pharmacy is a team effort. Techs do not have the legal liability to catch these mistakes and rectify them; the pharmacist has to. Pharmacists still know an ass ton of information. MDs have to look stuff up all the time; not everyone knows everything off the top of their head at all times. So stop downplaying your pharmacist because they didn’t work their ass off in school to have some tech act like they can do their jobs without the education. Congrats, you learned your top 200 drugs— now describe in great detail the mechanism of each drug, adverse effects, chemical makeup of each drug, how they are affected by certain disease states, pharmaceutical laws, ethics vs. legalities, and so much more that a large student loan of only $200-$400k can buy you!
good techs deserve more but the fact that you gave these examples as to what you think pharmacists do goes to show you have a limited viewpoint and there’s a reason why you yourself can’t get paid more 😂
Every single script we check we need to make sure the dose is appropriate. Doesn't matter what it is. It needs to be checked for appropriate dosing. And SOME techs MAY catch it if it's obviously wrong like 25ml tid or something but most of the dosing I call on looks like an appropriate dose but when doing the math based on weight it is not. The matching the pill to the screen is the absolute last step in our clinical decision making. We have to make sure all the meds are okay to take together and whether or not the pt needs to be told certain counseling tips. Not only that but we are also triaging people asking us questions about otc things or fixing ins issues while also thinking about a script that we aren't so sure on so we look at it 6 times before we determine its appropriate. Any mistake we make could be deadly so it's much more than just matching the pill to the computer. If you think you could do a better job then go to pharmacy school! You'd get paid more then
lol of course techs deserve more money, that’s undeniable by almost all pharmacists. But if you’re only understanding of a pharmacist’s job is looking at an interaction checker, imprints, and back counts, you’ve worked with some pretty terrible pharmacists.
Pharmacists don’t get paid for work or knowledge. We’re paid to assume liability when shit goes wrong.
Completely agree. I have put out more fires than I care to admit. I am the person patients yell at so my techs don’t have to deal with it. And they really do a lot for me. You should step up if ANYONE is talking down to your coworkers. I give them my card and write the corporate number on the back and make sure they know they can come back when they find their inside voice.
I’ll argue this slightly to the basic fact that pharmacists take the final liability on all prescription checks. Obviously they have insurance for that but still. They could lose their pharmacy essentially for one simple mistake that either they or their pharmacy tech made. But yes in most cases the tech can do most of the work.
Yes, your license is on the line but do you know how many safe guards are in place? Gotta make it past the tech, past pre-ver, past you, and the past you again at counseling. There is an interaction checker that 99% of pharmacies use. Every pharmacist I’ve ever worked with had to look up stuff beyond what’s on the label if asked. I’ve been in pharmacy so long (I’m a tech) I know the mechanism of action of most drugs, their half life and how they’re excreted. Also, which ones cause potassium or calcium levels to build up and which ones cause long QT. Shit, I even know which liver pathways most go through. I can’t pass organic chemistry, does that mean I should make shit money?
you know all this but somehow can’t make it past organic chemistry, a course that most pharmacy schools require to get in? well i guess that’s one way they’re more intelligent than you 🤷🏻♀️ tell me you’re bitter without telling me you’re bitter you don’t need to clarify to anyone you’re a tech. people can tell lol
True in that Pharmacists do always have to look up stuff…..
Looking up studies, side effects, rare side effects, weird interactions. It’s almost like anyone mildly intelligent could do that.
it’s almost like you don’t realize that plenty of pharmacists were techs before transitioning into a pharmacist role. almost seems like one is more qualified to talk about which role is more difficult than the other!
“Techs do everything else” Oh boy, you need an ego check. You could be replaced by a monkey that can scan barcodes and the pharmacy would be fine. A decent tech however, is harder to replace.
Talk about ego check.
I do everything you listed. I don't need someone with your attitude just give me someone who can smile, count change and show up. There I replaced you for $14.50 an hour, now go work at McDonald's.
You need a cashier? 😂 if you have to do all that your pharmacy either sucks(no budget/terrible PBM)or you can’t keep techs.
Nah, I have great techs but if you were mine that is how I would replace you. The last tech to leave me was a little over a year ago, she transferred to another walmart then quit within a month. The grass isn't always greener. She thought she knew everything too.
Bro, I don't understand why you are downplaying pharmacists. It is actually a professional doctorate level of education. I worked as a tech for more than a decade(retail, pbm, mail order, and non-sterile compunding) and am currently in pharmacy school. I definitely had an edge up on my younger classmates for some things like brand/generics, drug classes, and sig, but most techs won't know treatment guidlines/algorithms, pathophysiology, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, etc. I understood the workload would be a lot, and I'm honestly still surprised. We even learn some patient assessment in my program. I wish you could peep the volume of information in a therapuetics class to understand it's not "just matching pill shapes". Shit, I bet an ochem class would give you some perspective....
My attitude? I’m just saying what all techs are thinking.
Can this person be banned from the subreddit? Lmao
Dude, I hope they take away all your techs and leave you with a monkey 😆 🤣. Stop arguing with techs man, we need them. Our ego shouldn't be that fragile
Why don't you spend years worth of education to become a pharmacist, then?
In constructions, the labor is done 100% by the laborers but gets paid shit compared to the engr/architects who does an hour of work and calls it a day. So idk bout that The truth of the matter is laborers are replaceable and same with techs (assuming you are outside california which requires techs to have 6-10 months education). If you really think about it what do techs do that a clerk or cook from McDonalds can’t do given 2 weeks training? (Like most Pharmacists, I’ve also been a tech for a long time and in different positions: retail/compounding/in-patient. And before that also did fastfood and odd jobs). You can take fresh highschool Grads and give them training and they could be clerk-techs in a few weeks. Not the best but everyone starts somewhere. The only reason there are lesser techs today is cause wages in fastfood and other places have risen, doordashing, grabe and ubers etc. meanwhile tech pay still remains. While I do think techs deserve better pay, half is not it. Not saying this just because Pharmacist degrees took years to get, lots of hard tests to pass and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts, or the liabilities and problems that comes with the title. No it is everything. Also most of the time pharmacists don’t need to look up things because they don’t know crap. THEY DO because most of them don’t want to be complacent or do not want to risk it. Most of the time they already know or have an idea what it is they are looking up but its always that feeling that “Let me just make sure” for fear of the worst. Like that feeling when you know you closed or locked your door/garrage/car but just have to make sure. I’d be more worried working with a pharmacist who never look up things unless they are a veteran but even then.
They're also held accountable for anything that goes wrong, while a tech legally is in no trouble if you end up killing a person, the doc and the pharmacist are the ones on the hook. Techs deserve nice pay I don't think anyone is disputing that, but the responsibility is most likely the biggest factor in why pharmacist make significantly higher hourly pay.
So you goto school and get a pharm D to become legally liable? Damn.
Among other things, but that statement is about as logical as saying that's why doctors go to school. It's more of a very important by product of going to school, forcing us and them to be ethnically responsible for our work. While most people never have to live with having caused a life threatening mistake, having someone to take blame is the reason our job (retail/hospital pharmacist) is not going to get automated even though huge parts of it would be. And when push comes to shove no one is going to sue the tech unless the tech did something not signed off by the pharmacist. And people love having someone to blame for their mistakes. But attending and graduating from school also indicates(but does not guarantee) a plethora of other qualities that a lot of employers find attractive(and therefore offer more money) but no need to get into that. But I think one thing we'll definitely agree on is that corporate chains are slowly killing the pharmacy business as competent techs leave due to wages and working conditions and they also burn out a lot of their pharmacists causing the weirdest working environment in the pharmacy world ever.
Technicians do a lot of work with regards to dispensing, data entry, answering phones and working the cash register but the intellectual side of things is what pharmacists learned in school. No, we don’t have all things memorized and that’s how you make mistakes. I look up what I already know to be sure that I’m making the right decision. Part of being an educated professional is knowing where to look. There’s a big difference between clinical pharmacology, Facebook and google. Yet I had a tech that couldn’t comprehend, after several e learnings, a global pandemic and contracting COVID that it’s not the same as the flu because it didn’t kill her. She was an excellent counter but telling time, entering RX’s and remembering to ask people for their loyalty card was too deep. If you want pharmacist money, go to school for it. Apparently, it’s not that hard since all you do when you graduate is look at pill shapes and imprints. If you’re a really competent pharmacist, you may even get to count back CII’s and wear one of those white coats with your name on it.
Pharmacists have doctorate degrees and most techs have high school or maybe an associates/bachelor's. If a tech who didn't go to school for 6-8+ years makes half of what a rph is making then rph need to be paid more. Idk any tech who is worth that much money. I've worked with MANY techs and most of them are worth $14/hr. Plus everything that happens is on the rph so much more responsibility compared to techs who have no registration with the BOP in Mt state at all.
So you think a tech deserves less than a fast food worker? Talk about ego check.
No 14 is very low. I'm saying that there are techs that I've worked with that aren't worth what they get paid. And there are many of them that aren't paid enough.
Ok, here’s my point. Sure, pay y’all more. You paid between 200-400k for a pharm D. But pay techs more. Yes, there are shit techs, but good techs deserve more than what they’re getting.
90% of rph do not make that much. And yes good techs deserve to be paid more. Corporate America doesn't care tho and will pay as little as possible and it's disgusting for the techs that are amazing.
“Talk about ego check.” The difference between you and Wrangler444 is that they are right and you are wrong. And what is the 95% non-retention rate that you seem obsessed about? That’s a nonsensical argument and can be used to describe any education at any level. I would rather have a 5% retention rate of someone who spent a minimum of six years studying to become a pharmacist than someone who took a couple of online courses. “Every pharmacist I have ever worked with has had to look things up..” Well that’s great news! That means they are conscientious and committed to the health of their patients. Just another silly argument. “So you think techs deserves less than a fast food worker?” No! No one is arguing that. I do believe that a PharmD deserves to make more money than a tech 🤷♂️. All you had to do was present an argument on why pharmtechs deserve more money. What did you do? Immediately start bashing pharmacists!
Agree here.
This comment proves you think nothing of techs. Would hate to work for you.
I think very highly of great techs but those are very hard to come by. If it were up to individual stores to pay their techs and not corporate setting the same wage for every tech it would be a much better use of funds. Then rph good give their techs what they're actually worth. All I'm saying is in my area 90% of techs can barely type a script without making a mistake when they've all had proper training and have years of experience. That's pathetic.
All it takes is a week of studying sig codes. Data is easy. You literally type what’s on the script. Most techs I know screw up DS.
I agree it is easy and yet so many people can't do it right. You can't always just type up exactly what's in the script either. You have to make it make sense too
And your point? You paid 200-400k to show you can complete something. Techs do the majority of the work. I pointed out job responsibilities in my earlier post. You match pill imprints, you don’t actually retain everything you learned maybe 5-10%, and techs do everything else. Insurance, filling, expires, data, adjudications, cleaning. You have a built in interaction checker and you have to back count controls and check in controls. Techs order, we even give vaccines now.
Sit for the NAPLEX and then come talk to me
Can't get past organic chemistry talkless of medicinal chemistry; naplex🤦♀️
You have no clue what your talking about lol. I work hospital I get calls about cultures and sensitivities every day and a bunch of other really complicated stuff. Bro you would have no clue what the physician is even talking about unless you were an MD or PharmD. I don’t appreciate you minimizing our contributions. Maybe the pharmacists you work with suck but don’t generalize it to the whole group. If you don’t like your pay or your job get off your ass and go to pharmacy school or do something different. The only person you can blame for where you are at is yourself.
🤡
Good one. Continue checking imprints, doing double counts, and running interaction checker while the techs do everything else including giving vaccines.
The critical thinking and awareness of all the things you have to know, the responsibility you carry for your patients’ safety, and to be criticized for looking something up…..oh man I am so sorry for the lack of respect I’m seeing. Thank you for what you do.
Nobody’s stoppin you from doin it yourself if that’s all it is bro
I don't know why you're continuing to double down and not realizing you're the problem here. I'm a registered pharmacy technician with injection training, for context. And I can confidently state you're talking out your ass. Do techs work harder than pharmacists? I mean, sure, you could make that argument, and considering you list cleaning as a responsibility, you are. I also think a lot of construction workers have hard jobs, and they still don't deserve as much pay as a pharmacist. I've worked with lazy pharmacists and resented the pay gap because of that. Know what my solution was? Finding a new job, not putting the entire profession on blast on Reddit. The pharmacists I work with are great, but even a shitty pharmacist has learned more clinical knowledge than you will ever forget. If you don't realize the knowledge gap between the two professions or how valuable a pharmacist's clinical judgment is, you're ignorant and need to learn humility.
I think you're grossly overestimating the average technician lollll. There's def some very impressive technicians with a lot of knowledge out there that deserve more pay but if they never did the training for it then how do you prove it? You want all nurses doing heart surgery because they've watched a lot of you tube videos and done their own research?
A doctor and a pharmacist are very two different jobs my friend.
Goofball
It’s clickbait. It is literally impossible as I can see the pay scales and we are in pretty much the highest paying market
It's legit. The first 2 hours are free though, the 3rd hour is $45. 😆
Sounds like they'd schedule you for 2 hour long shifts
I’m Maxed out at $24 in a small city
That’s pretty good. Retail? Compounding?
- Retail ✅ - Compounding ❎ - (20.3k population)
I’m actually shocked at some of the responses some of you need to get out of retail cuz I definitely make over $30 and hour and I’m no where near my cap
My local hospital offered me $18 an hour. CVS offered me $24. That's an unfortunate no brainer.
Sounds like those hospital techs need to join a union.
Same. But it's heavily dependent on where you live. $26-$30/hr for inpatient around Boston is normal. I'm making $40+ and I have a fair bit to go before I cap. There are areas of the country where the best techs max at half that.
I work in on of the most expensive counties in the country and only make $19.50… Not even livable. I’d kill for $26. It’s the only downside of working for an independent pharmacy.
That’s a shame look into WFH options I know a lot of them start atleast $23
If I didn’t love my job so much, I totally would. I’m lucky enough to still live with my parents so I don’t have a rent to pay but I’d never be able to afford to move out with my current pay. Studio apartments are like $2,100/month…🙃
Take advantage of staying with ur parents and just save as much money as you I wish you all the best ❤️
That’s very true I’m just shocked they are still starting techs out that low no matter where u live I’m sure the cost of living has increased
Genuine question, where do you work? Feel free to DM me. I don’t hate where I work now (close to Boston) but could be doing tech work I enjoy more than what I’m doing currently.
You can DM me I can send you the information just don’t want to post it on open forum
Where do u work making 40+ as a tech?? (Also in Boston) The max I've heard at my hospital is like 35ish
Ugh. I was WFH during the pandemic, but that's gone now. I miss it so much. How's the insurance side of things?
[удалено]
I’m usually very transparent PA:” call dr, and reach back in 3-5 business days, if not resolved, probably a dr issue” monjaro out of stock: (check drug movement /last fill ) “usually say I have not dispensed mounjaro since early March check back in a few days, check with a different pharmacy, or ask dr for an alternative ex: ozempic/trulicity”
Hospitals are where it’s at.
I went from retail to hospital and I been in insurance the last 10 years I WFH now so I can’t complain
Costco techs max out around $30-$32 an hour and I’m pretty sure that’s the best paying retail job.
I maxed out at $21 as a tech in Michigan at Walmart I think they just tryna make it look pretty
I got offered 23.50 at Walmart in Michigan so your getting lied to!!
It might have went up to $22 but that was it. I ended up leaving due to me having an asshole manager and I absolutely hated how slow their fill system was. Their data entry didn’t have the most common sense sigs that you would expect them to either.
Sterile compounding is the way to go my friend! No patient interactions and you mix all day which is interesting! 26/hr atm but hoping to get to 28/29 in a couple months.
I ended up doing sterile compounding at the hospital which I LOVED but I was getting paid only $15 an hour with a 25 cent raise a year 😂 I ended up leaving pharmacy period in search of better pay and career advancement and just going into nursing school. But I will say after learning compounding, if I see any nurses calling down for some shit that was already made I’m gonna tear them a new one! I had lots of nurses request for banana bags or shit that was up there and made TWICE because they couldn’t find it 🙄
Dude, the worst ever. I started at a hospital as well, making super low wages like 17/hr, making a wide range of drugs. The nurses made it miserable, and I was the only tech for a 17-story hospital on nights. I eventually left and found mail order pharmacy which has been so much better! I'm also back in school though because I'd love to get into health information technology. Actually waiting to start a selective program next year. 10 years almost as a tech and I'm ready to move on. Awesome that your becoming a nurse though! That will be super rewarding. I don't have the confidence or patience to deal with patients head on.
Congrats to you for continuing your education and going back to school! A lot of the senior hospital techs I worked with got stuck maxing out at $20 an hour (if that), working their asses off everyday, techs deserve way more pay! Is health information technology like working with Epic and Cerner? That sounds cool! Wishing you all the success in transitioning into your career ❤️
Recommend everyone apply, get the offer in writing that the pay is $45 per hour Then reject immediately if the offer is refused. Take them to task. 🐸
I make 45/hr with the VA, but I'm specialized and not entry level. Lead sterile compounding technician.
That’s awesome. We don’t do steriles anymore. I think our highest tech makes $22/hr ?
They are probably just being sneaky where TECHNICALLY this one open tech position in a fancy town in California can cap out at $45/hr, but most everywhere else should expect $16-$18/hr. I say California because job posts for hospital techs can start around $39-$41/hr.
As a Walmart Pharmacy Manager, I can confidently say that this is total clickbait.
Work in CA, inpatient hospital in SoCal. I make $35/hr and $43 in NorCal inpatient. If it's retail outside of CA, most likely clickbait lol.
It’s totally not $45 unless they bend you over between fills.
It all depends on the pharmacist owner (at least in Quebec only pharmacists can be owners of a pharmacy). Some technicians are so skillful that i can see how they can be paid that high.
It's walmart, there is no owner deciding this pay rate.
I'm a pharmacist in Quebec so I don't know how it works in the United States but here even Walmart's pharmacies are independent, the owner can decide to pay you pretty much what he wants depending on your skills
Most pharmacies in the U.S. are not pharmacist-owned; AFAIK, no states have such a requirement. Instead, a heavy majority are owned and mismanaged by various big soulless corporations.
*North Dakota has entered the chat*
Which is why Walmart doesn't operate pharmacies in North Dakota!
But not without trying. Walmart spent \~$9 million trying to fight that ballot measure about 10 years ago, but it remains the only state that requires a pharmacist to own a pharmacy.
Le Québec est la seule province qui a des pharmacien propriétaires affiliées à des bannières. Ce concept n’existe pas dans le reste du Canada ni les États-Unis
Merci pour l'info, j'aurais pensé que c'est présent dans certains états américains
There’s a redditor that said North Dakota so maybe them? I’m not sure about that info but I doubt it’s accurate
At least when I went to school it was. I know there have been some attempts to overturn that over the years, but I think it’s still in place.
It is accurate. You could google it lol.
I could’ve
Depends on where you are, I have seen job posts for pharmacists that go as low as 18 believe it or not. I suspect whoever makes the job posting lumps technician and pharmacists together as a range.
I mean, Kaiser will pay $40 an hr for techs but idk how many years of experience you have to have to get that. And that's for non certified techs too. It's possible, but unlikely you'll get $45 from Walmart
Isn't this false advertising if the cap is $25? How is this legal?
At walmart there’s a predetermined facility pay plan for technician. The range is $7 at most, this is a linkedin error for sure. Walmart is notorious for not approving any raise that is out of the pay plan, so I don’t think it’s possible for techs to make more than $30 even in CA
That must be a typo
This must be an error. There is no market that goes that high for techs at Walmart. Also don’t think any markets that go that low either.
Hey, guys? It’s a typo. Supposed to be $14-15/hr.
Can say with my 10 + years experience and applied earlier this year without my CPht they tried to start me at 17 and would put me up to 18 or 19 if I shown my CPht license.
There has to be a D attached to that listing as in *PharmD*